Pierre Pettigrew

[Canada Elections Act, June 11th, 2003]

Who will pay for your party?

[Softwood Lumber, June 11th, 2003]

Mr. Speaker, I am surprised by the question of the member who participated in a meeting I had with the Maritime Lumber Bureau last Thursday in Fredericton. I must say that we had a very good exchange of views. Both of us better understood one another's concerns with the proposal.

We are trying as a government to bring an exemption for all softwood lumber from all regions of Canada, but in any way we move on this issue, we will always take into consideration the special circumstances of the maritime industry.

[International Trade, June 6th, 2003]

Mr. Speaker, let me be quite clear that this government has always believed that remanufacturers should have been exempted from day one by the department of commerce of the United States.

We have gone to the WTO and we were very pleased that a key element of the WTO decision last week, on the final determination of the United States, is that the Americans had failed to demonstrate that there was any pass through of alleged subsidies to the remanufacturers. Therefore we were right to ask for their exemption and we continue to demand their exemption from the department of commerce actions.

[Canadian Commercial Corporation, June 4th, 2003]

Mr. Speaker, pursuant to Standing Order 32(2), I have the honour to table, in both official languages of Canada, the summary of the 2003-04 to 2007-08 business plan of the Canadian Commercial Corporation.

[Softwood Lumber, June 4th, 2003]

Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the conservative advice on how to win seats in Canada. I remember very well years where they actually went down to two seats across the land following two majorities in the House. If the member does not mind, I think I will not take his advice too seriously.

I will not play cheap politics with softwood lumber communities and our workers. What we are fighting for right now is not seats in Nova Scotia; it is the industry and its future in North America. That is what we care about.

[Softwood Lumber, June 4th, 2003]

Mr. Speaker, it is important that we continue to work as a country.

There are many companies and I have a list of letters here from many people begging us to re-engage with the United States.

I understand that we have a two track strategy. We want to win before the courts and at the same time I am being asked to re-engage with the United States. These are moves in order to re-engage with the United States. That is exactly what the provinces and industry have been asking us throughout.

[Softwood Lumber, June 4th, 2003]

Mr. Speaker, I showed absolutely no interest in withdrawing the paper that was tabled last week in Washington.

[Softwood Lumber, June 4th, 2003]

Mr. Speaker, I think it would be totally irresponsible to pit one region against another, and to tell us that a minister from Quebec must tour Quebec, when 50% of softwood lumber exports that are being penalized right now come from British Columbia.

Our government is concerned about Quebec's interests. We are concerned about Quebec's workers. We are also concerned about workers in British Columbia.

[Softwood Lumber, June 4th, 2003]

Mr. Speaker—

[Softwood Lumber, June 3rd, 2003]

Mr. Speaker, we have always consulted with the stakeholders of the industry from east to west, including Quebec, the Maritimes and Atlantic Canada, Alberta and British Columbia. It is very important that we include Manitoba as well. One per cent of our exports to the United States come from Manitoba.

We will continue to work with the stakeholders. We will continue to consult them very closely, and clearly they will be part of the resolution that we are seeking with the Americans.